"Original Jazz Classics"

Without a doubt the OJC catalog was the bargain of the century. Hundreds of great performances and a great price to boot. Ah the good old days (2 years ago) when they could be purchased for less than ten bucks. Then along comes Concorde Music Group who buys the total catalog. Now we have no more cheap OJC's as the powers that be don't want to dabble with the lunatic fringe and waste money on what must have been a break even endeavor for Fantasy. More money to be made by reissuing "remastered" compilation CD's. Ah but wait. Why not address the needs of the lunatic fringe by having an audiophile label pay big $$ to manufacture heavyweight remastered virgin vinyl blessed by angels? Make it a limited numbered production run with certificates and make it expensive (if you don't they will think its CRAP!!).

Then have a shrill at one of the magazines ramble on about sound stage depth and height and before you can say audiophile--- another remaster of a 40 year old album enters the sales charts at you know where.... as number 1.

Consider yourself lucky to have found some OJC's. Some dealers still have a few but the really good ones are long gone.

the 'performances' are the reward, not the sonics, when it comes to collecting old or reissued recordings. even audiophile pressings(which the ojc's are not), are all over the place in terms on sound. many of the analogue releases use the most updated digital masters....the ones from the late 80's and early 90's aren't the greatest.....referencing the last or latest cd release sometimes offers clues to the quality of the most recent lp. not always...but often.

Yep Vinylrowe hit it right on the head. Pick up as many of those OJC pressings as you can. They are a steal for both the performances offered and in many cases the sound quality. The originals are not as quiet and would cost much much more than the OJCs.

FYI Mosaic Records' True Blue Music is selling a handful of OJC's for $5.98 . These are limited, but there are some pretty swell titles some of which are "Bud Freeman - All Stars ", "Tommy Flanagan - Something Borrowed, Something Blue " "Hampton Hawes - The Séance" and "Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars - In The Solo Spotlight ".

Really can't go wrong for that price.

http://www.truebluemusic.com

I do know that the Concord Music Group laid off (or otherwise dispensed of the services of) Stuart Kremsky as tape archivist and re-issue producer at Fantasy. Stuart is a big time record collector and self-described "jazz nut" (as well as reviewer for Cadence and other jazz magazines.) Exactly the kind of guy fellow music lovers would like to have working in the trenches of a huge and rich back catalog. But serving the music community is not part of the corporate agenda, apparently.